Riding on BRAND NEW Pavement *or* Adventures in Asphalt
And I'm talking brand spankin' new, as in they are still paving the other lane and they just decided to let the first group of cars drive on it!
If you're up for reading this loooong post, please picture in your mind a rural two-lane road in the forest. No shoulders, no stop lights. Light traffic (thank heavens)...
Let me tell you, although riding on brand new pavement sounds like a cyclist's dream, it kinda wasn't. The pavement was still so sticky that it sounded like I was riding on duct tape and it felt like I was riding through pudding. It was a stretch about a mile long and it was a slight incline, so I was very slow. They were holding traffic so of course the pilot car and all the other vehicles got through WAY before me, so everyone was waiting for me. They were all looking at me with that oh-my-god-I-am-so-annoyed-with-that-bicyclist look. Then, right where they were holding traffic, I needed to cross the street and get to another road, but of course they had just oiled across that road in preparation for paving. They had to hold traffic so I could cross the street and then I had to hike (while carrying bike above me) through a 2' deep dirt ditch to get back to un-oiled pavement. One of the workers offered me a hand getting out of the ditch, which was really nice. I think it gave all the other workers a nice chuckle.
This story has another chapter. So this section of road they were repaving was unavoidable for me (that's not really 100% true...I could've ridden a completely different route, but by the time I got to the road work, I didn't want to turn back). There is no other way around (except the freeway), so I had to go through twice. Going the downhill way, I was the first one behind the pilot car. Bad idea. He kept slowing down and almost stopping, and I had a line of 30 cars riding my a$$. It was freaking me out so I pulled off into a driveway. Right across from this driveway was the first possible street to use to avoid the rest of the paving project. But they were paving across the front of that road, so I asked a worker if I could walk across the new pavement. He said sure. Luckily I picked up my bike and carried it, because when I started walking across, my feet sunk in about 3" and I left big giant footprints. The steamroller dude and asphalt raking dude looked at me like they wanted to kill me. Then I had asphalt in my cleats, so I had to take my shoes off and whack them on the curb. I thought I was out of the way, but next thing you know, the steamroller wants to go right where I am. But I had no shoes on. I think about 15 workers were staring at me with their arms crossed giving me that oh-my-god-I-am-so-annoyed-with-that-bicyclist look again.
The happy ending to this story is that when I ride this route on Saturday, it will be all freshly paved and the pavement should be hardened up nicely. I can't wait.
